TVvoodoo's Straplab

[ibmorjamn]

It's Friday! Who's in love?

Not me with the weather, that's for sure! Up here in Boreal Lake country it's typically a crazy long weekend.
Almost all campsites typically booked, people pumped to come the great outdoors and get back to nature.

All those sites booked, RV's all decked out. Muddy campsites. Yuck! Lakes aren't even unfroze yet up here.
Here's what's coming to the reverb store this weekend. A couple new Genocides! Exciting!

"Dirt Nap" edition - 45"-58", 3" wide lovely padding, brown leather on black leather.

"SkinWalker" edition, 41"-56" 3" wide, padded - brown skull embossed leather on an almost TOO realistic skin-coloured cowhide.
OMG it's creepy AF! Perfect to boost up that shell pink... whatever!

I ain't camping this weekend, I'll have plenty of time to get the listings up for these two over the next couple of days.
Have a good one, stay warm and dry!

Skull Pile good !

 

[TVvoodoo]

Got the new Black and Gold Dragons up in the Reverb store, one of three already winging it's way to a new W-H warrior!

Review came in from Jesse, one of the thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville...

New on the bench today, but I can't put 'em in the store because I suddenly found myself in a situation where I gotta make a whole bunch more tail straps. I'll get at that over the weekend- watch for "Needs Space" in the reverb store early next week

The other similar set I did with "Caution" a few weeks back were made of auto vinyl (the main body part), but I opted to do this set of three in black leather, nose, body and tail too. If your bandmates or audience members make you go all mad-dog while wearing this sling, they can't say you didn't warn 'em!

Another set of nice words from Jim in New Mexico

FREE Well-Hung STRAP DRAW

Currently a member of The Gear Page? I recently discovered my long running Cult of the Well-Hung StrapLab thread kicked-off there on June 21st, 2016. So in about one week's time I'll be marking the TENTH Anniversary of that thread of near daily posts, pretty similar if not exactly what I've been doing here, as crosspostings. Anyway, I'm celebrating a WHOLE DECADE of strap-centric posting over on TGP with a free strap draw for avid thread watchers, and truth to tell, there ain't gonna be all that many in the draw LOL! So, chances are good! It'd be so funny if a Tone Rooms fella won it.

All you gotta do is go like any of my recent posts in the TGP Cult of the WH thread, dated from today on until June 21st. And, if you could please tick the "WATCH Thread" button on the upper right of the top of the page you won't miss if you win or not - cause I'm not going to mention it here in this thread, only that one, without meta-tagging you, So, if you don't answer within 24 hours of the draw, I'm gonna just pull another name, etc. One like/ballot per TGP member/StrapLab watcher. Winner shows me a guitar, I'll provide two strap choices, free strap, shipped. Kindly pass the word on... while it'll likely reduce your chances, it could get me a bit more traffic there, and that's something that'd please me.

 

[GrooVey]

Nice job on your longevity!

Love me some Dragons!!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Happy Monday StrapFreaks! Yeah, I'm one too, feel absolutely no shame. A wonderful strap can take a great rig into EXCEPTIONAL territory, no knob twistin' or tube rollin' required!

Since it seems everything anyone wants to talk about is space these days, here's a pic of the completed "Fair Warning: Needs Space" from last week - now in the store. These are leather and as robust as good safety gear needs to be! And long too... a couple of them go past 60" long territory. Not sure why the photo yellow looks washed out. Must be a saturation thing. The ribbon is very yellow!

You know StrapLab friends, I recently turned 60 and I think maybe that's partially why I've been kind of moody lately. My wife called me out on it on a few days ago, and for once she was right! Got me thinking. Sure I've got my battles, we all do... but when I look at the sum of the parts of them, they don't really amount to all that much, and I generally need to pull my head out and just be more grateful. And as it turned out, on Sunday I had a rare empty afternoon, and as I seem happiest when my hands are busy....i tackled a craft project I've been rolling around in my head for months...

First, I designed some lettering for an approx 48" by 11" simple sign made up of a couple of rogue 1X6 fence boards on my computer box

Printed out pieces of the letters on regular letter paper, taped them together on the roughly painted blue painted base sign, traced, then painted the letters

Added a rough white highlight up top, and shadows on the bottom

Looked pretty nice until took a wire brush and some gravelly dirt to it, I maybe went a bit too far.
Always hard to tell when enough is enough. I think if I ever relic'd a guitar it would turn out awful!

We had this blank wall space left above our cupboards after my wife painted the kitchen last fall, she got rid of the art that had been there for near fifteen years. So I had my eye on it that prime real estate.

Today's Special.

I like the thought of it. I do most of the cooking around here, but don't really use recipes. Nobody goes hungry and seldom do plates go in the garbage LOL! The running joke, even after the kids have left, is what's "Dad's Special" of the day. So, it works for that... but more importantly is the other meaning.

I thought about that a LOT for the few hours making and installing this sign took me - and I think it was good for my head. Pounded the message home.

By the way, last night's Dad's Special was an adapted greek salad, with the typical cukes, tomatos, onions, sweet peppers, olives, feta, fresh oregano, garlic etc...

Only I steered off from trad style by adding cooked shrimp and cold pasta shells. I then and invented an amazing dressing with lime juice, EVOO, dijon, honey, Sriracha and chili powder... and of course some garlic bread - OMG! Best Salad I've ever made I think

Fresh, light tart, with a little kick and a hint of sweetness too. Perfect summer dish. Like a Mexican lady married a Greek dude, and they moved to Italy.

Coming tomorrow, I'm trying to wrap my head around these silky paisley fabrics I purchased online but didn't turn out like I was hoping they would. Way it goes! I'm gonna try something new and different.

See what I did with it tomorrow. Hope it not a picture of them in the garbage can LOL!

Don't forget the Free TGP 10th Anniversary StrapLab strap draw (a few posts back) - the draw
happens in less than a week. hold your nose and go "like" a recent post of mine on TGP, you're in!

 

[TVvoodoo]

Yesterday I threatened to show you what I figured I'd do with that super thin silk. First I gotta say, yeah, it's thin, but oh my gosh is this stuff tough - kind of like ripstop nylon. Cut a thinnish strip of it to test just how strong it was, tried to rip it with as much brute force as I could muster. That was a no go. Now, I'm no muscleman, but there's no worries in the fabric strength department here.

So basically to use it, I cut a strap-shaped base out of yoga mat, wrapped this silk tight around it once, twice, three-time! Added reinforced good leather ends top 'n tail, lightly padded the underside, added a lining, glued and stitched it all securely together with upholstery thread. Padded lightly inside, velvety lining to stop dive. It's as tough a strap I've made, but looks elegant with the fancy silk and metallic amoebic embroideries swimming everywhere. They are L-O-N-G too...44"-61" max.

Because they are mostly fabric I can offer at a reasonable price, though it was kind of pricey stuff.
Here's what they look like.... Bronze embroideries on dark brown

Gold swimmers on Lavender

Charcoal and gold

Main background colours on these straps all flip-flop in the light too... you can see hints of it in the photos.... the brown goes almost a slight turquoise, the lavender turns almost gold, as does the charcoal, but a darker sort of Texas Tea kind of gold effect. Quite interesting
These are now in the store. One each for now. Testing 1,2,3

 

[TVvoodoo]

e if you might be interested in these two, going up within 24 hrs.
No Prisoners "Evil Twin", and "Eviller Twin" on the left.



Six strands of 5/8" wide leather, braided in a wonderful weave, all coming together beautifully to make a 2-3/4" wide guitar strap. The main body was at one time a ladies belt, extra long. Instead of making just one strap out of the belt, I opted to create a pair, each slightly different, but much the same. Rarely do I do a smooth leather interior, but these both have it, if that's your craving. The weave felt to me a bit rough on the inside shoulder, and since my creed is to bring you comfort, not irritation I fixed it. Can't believe how many other strap makers don't consider this. As a result, I also padded the inside, then lined it with nice black garment leather, smooth side faced out.

These both go 40" to 57" which gives you about six inches more to work with than most. The belt was saddle brown, but I dip-dyed it black, then clear-coated it, added the nose and tail ladder sections with plenty of secure, strong stitching.

Personally I'm a big fan of these woven leather guitar straps for vintage 70's type appeal, and this set is one of the boldest, showiest I've made yet. All that texture will look magnificent under the lights, all that black leather will surely boost your T-levels significantly.

 

[TVvoodoo]

New on the bench, but just short of complete and not yet listed on Reverb are a set of three "Creme of Olive" pythons...

3" wide, embossed leather with a decidedly fun python pattern in light olive, a darker mid-brown and creme. Rolled edges, going to have darker brown nose and tail sections, velvety brown neck-dive stopping interior with medium padding. Good 'n long too... but I haven't measured them yet.

Should be ready for purchase for sure on the weekend. Olympic white or creme strat with an aged mint green guard and rosewood board, anyone? OH YEAH!

Still have to complete the stitching and the tail straps, and photograph them all nicey-nice for the store... but I expect they'll be ready to slither your way real soon.

 

[TVvoodoo]

Had some dental issues this week that set me back aways - boys is that EVER one thing we tend to take for granted... then when things happen? Feels like the dang world is gonna end. Thankfully, I can say I'm feeling much better now, and even managed to complete a custom, and some other things while sorting through some of that awful life stuff.

This is a Custom Stage King headed to a youngster who just graduated high school, I got a pic of him wearing a '61 SG that was his grad gift, but I'm going to respect his privacy, as I didn't ask for permission to show it... but it looks like he's straight outta that Greta Von Fleet outfit!

Here's the strap no on the way to him - by the looks of it, he's gonna hang it over 60" long too, as is the legal requirement for all longhairs wearing bell-bottoms and vintage guitars

While I was making a custom Brown/amber dragon, i added another one in the mix for the store just because... this is what it looks like, still available, but sure has a LOT of watchers for being up only one day... Not sure when I'll get after more of these, kind of feeling a bit dragon'd out right now.

Also new in the store as of this afternoon... a brand new 1969 series entry... "Baby, I'm For Real" featuring a gorgeous ribbon I stumbled across while searching for cool materials. Indian red, saddle tan, black, olive green, and tasteful amounts of both gold and silver metallic embroideries.

So dang boho, the cops are watching it careful. They don't smell like weed and patchouli... yet! Tthat's up to you LOL! I only made the two, 3" wide, padded black leather base.

These adjust between 44"-58" so if you are one of those 6 feet or a bit more tall guitarists who constantly feels like straps from other makers come at you too short??? Oh Yeah, I hear you brothers... understand Well-Hung is 100% there for you, keeping you from looking or feeling clowny on stage.

 

[TVvoodoo]

New in the store a couple of Well-Hung "Spice Merchant" really, it's just a 1969 series strap, but I didn't see any songs titles there I liked
enough to name this one after, that I haven't already used LOL!

Searched for years for a nice vintage style guitar strap ribbon that didn't have some off-putting chartreuse or pink woven into it, finally found this one - all nice, warm 'n manly 1973 colours suitable for all your tobaccos, sunbursts, tri-bursts, even white or blackies.

"1969" is my re-imagining of a vintage style strap, providing Well-Hung comfort by eliminating the 2" wide shoulder-hammer factor. I do this by adding black leather and luxe padding. This also makes them 3" wide, the soft black leather also classes them up a little too. With a little extra body you'll find they won't get all tangled up, you don't have to solve a puzzle every time you want to play. The two I made today are extra long, so if you're weary of the dwarfy straps Big Strap pushes on us, know these will fully go 44"-63" which is about a foot more than most ladderback straps in guitar stores. The extra length also provides extra stage performance options the shorty straps steal away.

Good leather, trusty. Stitched with heavy upholstery thread... borne to perform, as I like to say!

Just noticed on Reverb I made my 1,804th deal last night. Now maybe a few hundred of those deals were for things like Pro-Pins oversize strap buttons, my Old School leather straplocks and a few other small things I stock. But, I also do a fair amount of custom work on the side outside of Reverb, like at least two hundred of those... and, I also had a different reverb account for my first year or two at this, so I can safely say I've now likely crafted approx 2,000 guitar straps since 2011.

As far as I know most of them are still in action.